Citric acid incorporated in a chitosan film as an active packaging material to improve the quality and duration of matured cheese shelf life.

Chitosan-based film incorporated with citric acid was prepared by the casting method for application in a Brazilian matured cheese. Three formulations of cheese were processed, with the intention of evaluating the application of a starter culture and the effect of the film in terms of its physiochemical, microbiological, and sensorial characteristics. It was observed by scanning electron microscopy (sem) analysis that the film has a homogeneous appearance, and the crosslinking between citric acid and chitosan was confirmed by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis.